Over the last several years, technology has transformed the way we consume information. Particularly for the sports community, technology has expanded the ways that sports fans can watch and appreciate sports performances. However, the ubiquity of digital video recording, web video streaming, and cloud-based storage of performances and performance segments has created unmet potential for the avid sports fan.
Using modern technology, it is now possible to watch most sports performances in either real-time or at a later point in time (“time-shifted”). A digital video recorder (“DVR”) or personal video recorder (“PVR”) is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device. DVRs include, for example, set-top boxes with recording capability, portable media players (“PMP”) with recording capability, and software for personal computers that enables video capture and playback to and from disk. For many individuals, time shifting or streaming sports performances have become the rule rather than the exception. However, with so many performances available for future consumption, knowing which performances to watch and which to avoid has become a problem.
There are many services that provide game highlights, box scores, and performance commentary, but all of these services spoil the excitement of any recorded sports performances by revealing the score, statistics, and/or highlights of what transpired. A fan seeking to watch highlights of a game that he or she missed is typically told or shown the outcome of the performance before or during the highlight, causing the fan to miss out on the excitement of experiencing the buildup of game events as they unfold.
Additionally, with the amount of performances available over the Internet and/or time-shifted to a DVR, sports fans can spend precious hours viewing a boring game or one that simply turns out as expected. Furthermore, what may be an exciting event for one sports fan may be uneventful to another sports fan. Currently available services merely broadcast a game's highlights without considering the myriad preferences of the game's audience, resulting in the inefficient use of the sports fans' time, a potential decrease in advertisement revenue, and the loss of viewership.